South Island, New Zealand, (29th January to 21st February) - Part 3 (from 14th Feb to 21st Feb)

Continuing blog from New Zealand from 14th Feb onwards:

First coffee stop after leaving the Abel Tasman peninsula - on a boat that belonged to Jaques Cousteau in 1970's. The owner roasts, grinds, serves and sells his organic coffee all on board the boat, and lives in a caravan on the quayside - very New Zealand.

Beautiful springs at Te Waikoropupu. The largest and cleanest springs in Australasia.
Very sacred to the Maori people and linked to many of their sacred stories.

Nelson - main city on North coast of South Island.

Much warmer on the North coast and less sand flies - the knees get an airing.

Picton - port for the ferry to North Island (we didnt go there)

Picton Sound

Part of a lush forested walk along Queen Charlotte track alongside Queen Charlotte Sound.
Many people do the full track taking 3 days or more with guest houses available en route.
We still encountered very few people and enjoyed the silence and natural sounds.

A day aboard the mail boat delivering to the residents of Pelorus Sound.

Mail boat customer awaiting their mail
The dogs all get a biscuit. In return they alert their owners when the mail boat is coming.

Typical Pelorus Sound residences - no access other than by water. Very self sufficient.

Mussel harvesting - major industry in Pelorus Sound.
The mussels are 'seeded' on ropes going down into the water from miles of lines supported by buoys
and harvested about 18 months later.

Shags 'helping' with the mussel harvest.

On board the jet boat in search of the sperm whales.
The screen shows how the whale swims at the surface and how we will only see the fin and the blowhole.

A sperm whale rests on the surface with only fin and blowhole showing
while it gathers breath for the next dive. The scale is hard to take in.
The visible parts are about 6 metres apart but still only one third of the whale's length.

The much admired tail wave before the whale dives down again for another 45 minutes of feeding.

A final relaxing and beautiful stop at Hanmer Springs natural hot pools
before we headed back to Christchurch and our departure from New Zealand.